EVENTSGPD Secures Top Level Speakers
Organizers of the Glass Processing Days (GPD), the bi-annual glass industry event in Tampere, Finland, have announced that the Opening Session Speakers for the 10th GPD Conference Transparent Forum in June 2007 have now been confirmed.
Top-level representatives of Glaverbel and AGC, Guardian Industries Corp., NSG -Pilkington Group and Saint-Gobain will address the conference and participate in the ensuing grand panel discussion on June 15, 2007.

The opening session speakers are Arthur Ulens, president of AGC Flat Glass and chief executive officer (CEO) of Glaverbel; Russell J. Ebeid, president of Guardian Industries Corp.’s glass group; Tomoaki Abe, vice chairperson of Nippon Sheet Glass and Jacques Aschenbroich, senior vice president of Saint-Gobain and president of the flat glass branch of
Saint-Gobain.

“This exceptional participation gives us a historical opportunity to bring together the views of four of the leading companies in the global glass industry at the same conference, at the same time and before the same audience,” said Jorma Vitkala, chairperson of the GPD Organizing Committee.

According to Vitkala, the speakers represent the broadest possible view of the glass industry a range of expertise that stretches from overall industry development to specific special markets and the application of advanced products for different application areas.

The 2007 GPD Conference program follows its traditional objective of creating a forum for information sharing among specialists. The weight of practical case studies has been increased in order to make the conference as practical and useful as possible.

“In 2007 we pay special tribute to the objectives of the Kyoto Agreement on sustainable development,” said Vitkala. There are many things that high-performance glazing and structures can offer to facade designers, builders and architects for the purpose of reaching energy saving objectives. It is largely a matter of controlling energy flows in and out of buildings that consume almost half of the world energy consumption today the other half being allocated to traffic and industry.

“For glass processors the Tenth GPD Conference offers exceptional opportunities to meet with the developers and designers that decide on the use of advanced glass products,” Vitkala continued. Interaction with the decision makers who use the products supplied by the processing industry will increase the understanding of designing and the requirements of handling the new advanced products to avoid damage in the logistic chain. It also gives valuable input that will assist processors to plan their operations for improved efficiency and productivity in the competitive climate that is becoming increasingly tougher, Vitkala underlines. Factory visits and hands-on process presentations also add to the advantages offered.

The Call for Papers–summons to GPD 2007 is now out and the date for submission of abstracts is October th, 2006. Details are available at
www.gpd.fi.

INDUSTRYNew American Tinting Association Forming
A new trade association for the automotive window tinting industry is now forming. A steering committee, responsible for the establishment of the association, has been formed and has drawn up a constitution. Ken Shofstall, a 24-year industry veteran, is the founder and director of the American Tinting Association.

According to the news release regarding the association’s formation, the constitution will be “issued to all companies in the sector, and as requested.”

“Over the course of the years I just felt a great need for cementing together an association for the automotive tinters. There are other associations out there, clubs and memberships but they are more geared toward the flat glass industry,” Shofstall told Window Film magazine. “[The association] came together to really give people a sense of not just being a window tinter but teaching them business practices.”

Some of the additional assistance the American Tinting Association is working on bringing to its members are the tools necessary for mobile credit card processing, for shops that do mobile work, as well as the options for providing 401(K)s and health benefits.

The association has a constitution and bylaws, both of which can be found on the association website,
www.americantinting.com, and is in the process of creating an executive committee that will serve as the decision making body of the organization; it is open to all members of the industry, from shop owners and installers to manufacturers and distributors.

“All of the bylaws, the membership information and application are located on the website and we’re always here to answer questions. It’s our goal: your voice will be heard and we will answer you. We don’t have a general mailbox. We will be there for them,” Shofstall said.

Commonwealth Laminating and Coating Purchased
Riverside Co., a private equity firm with offices in New York and Cleveland, among other cities, has acquired Commonwealth Laminating and Coating, manufacturers of SunTek™ window film.

“With clear benefits to end-users—whether residential homeowners, commercial property managers and developers or automobile owners—we believe the window film industry is an attractive space in which to invest,” Riverside principal Steve Dyke was quoted as saying in a news release issued in April.

Riverside Co. also runs The Dwyer Group, which, in turn, owns a number of franchising companies including Glass Doctor.

Corrections
In the web guide published in the July/August issue of Window Film magazine, the company name Haverkamp was misspelled.
In the March/April issue, Eugene “Gene” Whitmer’s response to how he got into the business should have read that he began working at his father’s shop in 1977, not 1997.